I describe my lifestyle as “monk.” Not just in the euphemistic way of a man going his own way, but in the classical “cloistered away and focused on self improvement” OG meaning, where you were describing a true warrior like the Shaolin. I don’t have a lot of distractions in my life (aside from my Switch and my kindergartner) and I spend a lot of time looking for physical things that I’m not sure if I can even do.
There have been a lot of occasions where I’ve prepared to do something and thought it was going to be physically impossible for me to do it. So far, I haven’t actually hit that physical limit yet.
Some backstory. I flipped a motorcycle about 8 years ago. The rear seat was four inches left of my head so I’m kind of lucky to be alive. However, I landed on my wrist and exploded it. I currently have a titanium rod capping one of the bones, and all my calcium just kind of glues itself around the rod.
Before I flipped my bike, I was doing all kinds of crazy physical s~~~. I was doing handstands, progressing to handwalks, I was doing inverted push-ups, pull-ups…I was in pretty great shape after having spent a summer dropping 50 pounds and feeling like I was in the best shape of my life.
Now that my wrist is actually a physical limiter, and my balance is all kinds of weird, and if I put weight on my wrist at the wrong angle it sends lightning up my arms, I’m more aware of when my form sucks or I’m not supporting myself.
Handstands and cartwheels were flat out for a solid six years. But I decided at the beginning of this summer that I was going to grimace through the pain and see where I got. A couple years ago I was almost 275 (125kg) with a ponderous gut and flabby man boobs. I spent a lot of time undoing mistakes I made because of excuses stemming from the injury and being dumb enough to get married, and I got that down to about 205 last winter (I’m at 215-220 right now, but my waist is actually narrower so /shrug).
The last six weeks have been the most focused. I actually managed to find the top again and, while it sucked and it hurt a lot to put weight on my wrists, I kept at it. I took naproxen or acetaminophen for the inflammation and soreness. Then I was climbing with my kid and I fell off a toy house, right on that damn wrist. That took me out for 3 weeks. I couldn’t put any weight on my arm at all, and it even hurt to try and lift a jug of milk.
But then one day I said “f~~~ it,” took the brace off, and started sticking handstands again. Don’t get me wrong, it hurts like hell if I don’t balance correctly and if I have even somewhat lazy form. I can’t balance on my own for more than a couple seconds, but I can brace against the wall for a couple minutes (I timed it last week) and it only cramps me up.
Every time my wrist is on fire, I think “I can’t physically do this, can I?” So far, I’ve been able to inch my progress forward. It’s been slow and often frustrating. But 8 years ago, both my arms were in casts to the shoulders and my surgeon was telling me I’d probably be able to do push-ups, but never much more. Here I am doing handstands, hoisting 30kg in either arm, I’ve mostly got pull-ups back.
Incremental change, my dudes. It’s like boiling the frog, but with your physical health.
Cupcakes are Cold. MGTOW is Absolute Zero.
“Let us wait a little; when your enemy is executing a false movement, never interrupt him” –Napoleon Bonaparte, 1805
JustAnotherGuy 1 year, 5 months ago.
